Tale As Old As Time
by FaerieQueen3
Summary: An ongoing series of one-shots about the lives and romance of fem!Ori/Kili, because they are just too cute.
1. Chapter 1

_Yodel-ay-hee-hoo! I recently discovered the wonder that is fem!Ori and holycrapI'minabsolutelove. Shortly after that, I found fem!Ori/Kili and, come on, it's pretty much the best pairing ever conceived by anyone, ever. It seems there's few other people who think so though, since there's very, VERY few stories of them together. (Guess the internet isn't to big when you're OTP is a rare-pair). This is unacceptable I say! So, without further do, I bring you fem!Ori/Kili, because the world just needs more of it._

_Er, heads up though, I can't seem to get my computer to put the emphasis on Fili and Kili's name's soooo...Sorry?_

_xoxo_

_FairieQueen3_

* * *

_'Dear Mahal, she's _perfect._'_

That was his first thought when he saw her. She was all lithe limbs and long, straight hair. She had a wispy beard, and freckles across her nose and cheekbones were the only thing that stood out on her pale skin. He thought she looked like on of the fairies from the legends of Men, and now he understood why, although she wasn't the dwarvish epitome of regal beauty, she was considered by many to be _quite _enchanting.

Fili likely wouldn't have agreed with him on that note. Kili could hear his brother's voice in his head now, _"She's a sweet-looking lass,"_ he'd say, _"But not really my type." _Then he'd probably turn to his baby brother with a scheming look and nudge him with his elbow before adding, _"Looks perfect for _you _though, little brother. You should talk to her."_ Kili smiled to himself at that thought; he had every intention of doing so.

He'd been in class with her during his school days, and after that, he saw her on feast days, but he'd never said hello before-which his uncle and Mother berated him about endlessly. It just seemed weird to talk to a girl. Fili had said, when they were both dwarflings, that girls had germs that made boys feel flushed and light-headed, and if you were infected, that you couldn't think straight. Fili was quite sure it was lethal, and in Kili's reason, since his brother was right about everything, he didn't see any reason to take chances.

Now though, as he saw her working at the window of her brother Dori's tea shop, he couldn't help but wonder _why "_girl germs"-_"Coodies," _Fili had said-were such a bad thing. After all, he felt all the effects of them in full force at the moment, and he couldn't say he minded.

"Hello," she said, pushing her light brown hair behind her ear.

Kili felt his cheeks go hot. He hadn't realized he was right in front of the tea shop. He'd planned to hang back for a bit, think of something clever to say, but he couldn't back away now. So, taking a steadying breathe, he did his best to give her his usual, happy-go-lucky smile. "Hello, Ori."

She looked up from the tea bags she was arranging with a start. "You remember my name?" It was a statement, she was so startled that it came out like a question. She was stunned, to say the least, but didn't seem suspicious and certainly not displeased.

Kili frowned a bit, confused, before saying, "Well, yes, of course. I know we weren't friends, but you're not easy to forget." She flushed bright pink, holding back a smile. Kili didn't bother to fight his own grin, and soon followed suit. Then he smirked evilly and added, "How could I possibly forget the teacher's pet?"

Ori opened her mouth and stammered for a moment, cheeks turning ever darker. Really, no one could blame Kili for thinking that a blushing Ori was absolutely _adorable. "_I was _not _the teacher's pet," she protested feebly looking resolutely at her hands as she wrung them. Then, out of nowhere, she gathered some gumption and said, "I was just a _much _better student than you were."

Kili laughed, pleased with her spice. Oh, she was _fun. _"That you were," he agreed, "A good deal smarter too." She looked up at him, eyes shining with pride at the compliment and Kili felt his breath catch.

They stared at each other for several seconds, in their own private world. The moment was shattered by her eldest brother's indignant squawk, which was quickly followed by, "Get _away _from my sister you _hooligan!"_

Kili jumped back, startled by the proximity of Dori's voice and looked to see the older dwarrow right beside Ori on the other side of the counter. How had the old dwarf even gotten there so fast? No matter how he had appeared there, he had, and now he was standing beside his little sister, looking for all the world the picture of parental protectiveness.

"Prince or no, I'll not have you charming my sister this day, or any other day thank you _very _much! Now, if you're not here to buy tea-"

"He is!"

Both dwarrow looked to Ori with twin expressions of surprise on their faces. Ori made eye contact with Kili begging him to understand. "I...Am?" She nodded her head emphatically, and so Kili went on, "I am! Uh, mint, mint tea for me please. It helps with my-um...It helps me s-sleep, that is."

Dori did not look _at all_ convinced, but he didn't seem inclined to argue when Kili pulled out his coin purse. "Very well then," he said, still a trace of reluctance in his tone. "Be quick about it Ori my girl, supper's on the table, and I trust you don't want cold stew." With that, and a final, skeptical glare at Kili, he disppeared behind the flap at the back of the shop and into the Ri household.

Both Kili and Ori watched him walk away and let out unison sighs of relief when they were sure he was gone. Then Ori picked up a little box filled to the brim with mint leaves and handed it to Kili. He noticed her slipping something inside, but couldn't see what it was, and didn't think to ask. When he went to pay, she pushed his purse back to him.

"Who am I," she said, ever bashful, "To charge a man for a good night's rest?"

He smiled at her in thanks and turned to walk away. Then he had a better idea: In a stroke of boldness, he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, provoking a small, surprised gasp out of the dwarrowdam and a blush out of the both of them. "I thank you for the tea, Miss Ori."

When he arrived home - he would swear his feet hadn't touched the ground the whole way - he opened his little tea box and saw a folded piece of paper inside. Curious, he carefully unfolded it and read it. By the time he was done, he was smiling like a fool and went to bed with a light head and a warm heart.

_Kili,_

_Meet me tomorrow at lunchtime outside the city gates, I'll have a picnic waiting. I hope that we can be great friends._

_Sincerely,_

_Ori_

Oh, Kili hoped they could be friends as well. Very good friends, and he'd do his damnest for them to be more than that.

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_Favorite, follow, comment what you thought about it, you know the drill ;-). Comment or PM to let me know what you'd like to see in the next one-shot. _

_xoxo_

_FaerieQueen3_


	2. Chapter 2

_Howdy fandom! Here's more fem!Ori for all of my bretheren who can't find it ANYWHERE. Well, that's not true, AO3 has some stories that are to die for, and you guys should go check them out if you groove on that :-). The fanart too, dear Lord, it's just too cute...Enough blabber, on to the story! _

_xoxo_

_FairieQueen3_

* * *

Ori knew everyone in school, absolutely everyone. For instance: The little boy with too many freckles and truly frightening curls was Dorith, the son of the Ered Luin's finest weaver, and a right snob. The one with the unspeakably beautiful golden hair that Ori was _incredibly _jealous of was Sathech, a miner's little girl, and one of the oldest in the class. Torith was Dorith's baby cousin, who followed his relative about like a pony on a lead (much to Dorith's dismay).

Ori knew all their ages, all their names, and who everyone was sweet on, and that included the Durin brothers. (Then again, everyone in the mountain who had two bits of brain to spare knew Durin's heirs). The elder was Fili, who had long, golden hair that was prettier than most girls - and he had once been mistaken for a girl, embarrassingly. He had been in Master Balin's class since before Ori had been old enough to come and he, Sathech, and a few others would reach majority on the coming Durin's Day. While Fili worked hard at his studies and did good work, he seemed to be much more at home at the training arena with his uncle, a sword in his hand and sweat on his brow. He was the golden child of the Erebor dwarves, and everyone simply adored him.

Then there was the younger brother, Kili. Ori looked up from her history scroll for a moment and snuck a look at the youngest Durin. He was all wild brown hair that he refused to braid, wide smiles, and only a bit of stubble to show for his years, for all that he - and every other student in the room - would be grown dwarves in a few years, if not sooner. Most saw it as being rather uncomely, a half-beardless dwarf. Ori however found the contrast between the shadow of darkness on his jaw and the overwhelming beards of most dwarrow to be - dare she say it? - beautiful. She found _him _to be beautiful. The dwarrowdam felt a blush rise to her cheeks of its own volition and quickly looked back down to her scroll.

_'Now Ori,' _she mentally chastised herself, _'You've no business thinking that way about boys.'_ Oh Mahal, and didn't _that _last bit sound frighteningly like Dori. She cringed at the thought, before her shoulders sagged as she was struck with another thought, _'And especially not about bloody _princes _for Aule's sake.'_ Because mountain or not, they were of the line of Durin, they were Thorin's heirs.

One day, they would reclaim the mountain, everyone knew it (Or, at least, everyone hoped they did.), and when they did, well, that would be a whole 'nother story wouldn't it? Daydreams and romantic fancies - and _yes _she'd had plenty of those concerning the youngest Durin - concerning herself and Kili would go from absolutely hopeless to utterly, totally, and _miserably _hopeless.

Besides, romance was...A dangerous notion. She could see the broken look in Dori's eyes whenever the name of his lost love was mentioned - although his friend's did their damnest to make sure it wasn't. _Imrath, _the daughter of a jeweler, and remembered by all to have been as charming, proper, and sweet a dwarrowdam as had ever lived. Everyone had loved her, Dori had _loved _her.

Her Father however, a noble as well as a wealthy merchant, was less than keen to see his only daughter tied down to a working class mother's son, and so he forbid it. Dori, in a one-time fit of rebellion, wouldn't take no for an answer, and neither did Imrath. They would meet everyday at noon, while her Father thought she was out at lunch. The corrider was secluded, deep inside the mountain, and everything was working perfectly. Smaug came. Dori had been running late to arrive to their meeting place, held back by a demanding customer and had just turned the corner into the hall, could already see her turning to smile at him when the whole tunnel collapsed. He would have stayed there and let himself die with her if Oin hadn't been running past him to the exit, seen him and hauled him out of the mountain himself.

The lower class and higher class didn't mix, Ori had learned that. But as she looked over at Kili, his eyes sparkling with mirth as he passed his brother some secret joke on a piece of paper, she desperately wished they did.

Years later, on her wedding day, she would look back and laugh at how silly she had been. Right then, however, she turned back to her scroll and ignored the little twinge in her heart.

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_I honestly don't know how this got so angsty, this was supposed to a happy chapter, damn you plot bunny. The next one will make you giggle I swear. Favorite, follow, and comment or PM to let me know what you'd like to see in the next one-shot. Happy reading!_

_xoxo_

_FaerieQueen3_


	3. Chapter 3

_Remember how I said this one would be happy and sweet and cute and fluffy andandandand all the good stuff? I lied. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!_

_xoxo_

_FairieQueen3_

* * *

Dori was going to have seven heartattacks when she got home, of that Ori was certain. Mahal, she was about to have a heartattack out of pure fear herself.

She had been walking home from the library after a full day of lessons from Master Balin. It was only her second week of apprenticeship, and she had been arriving early and staying late every day to prove that she deserved this chance. (Not that she needed to, Balin was well aware of her vast potential). She had stayed even later than usual today however, and was going as fast as she could with the tomes she was luggging in her leather bag. She was only a few minutes away from home when a tall, dark figure had jumped out from an alleyway and she had run smack-dab into it - a hulking dwarrow, it turned out.

She had scrambled to her feet, only for another dwarf - how had she not seen him? - to tug her hair hard enough that she was knocked off her feet and fell to the hard ground. She felt herself panicking and thought of her brother waiting for her at their home; likely nursing her cooling supper and worried half-to-death.

Dori had always fretted about her walking home on her own, but as he was the breadwinner of the house, and Nori was usually nowhere to be found, he was obliged to work while she apprenticed; just as was any other dwarrow he could think to ask to walk with her. Ori had opened her mouth to recommend her prince, but then Dori didn't know about that did he? Besides, he was apprenticing under his uncle and worked even longer hours than she did (let it never be said that smithing was an easy job). So instead, she had assured her eldest brother that she would be fine walking on her own - "It's a twenty minute walk Dori, what could possibly happen?". It appeared, however, that his fears were well-warranted.

She spit some dirt out of her mouth and watched a hot, angry tear drop onto the stone street. In a society where the females were so few and far between, one would think that what dwarrowdams there were wouldn't have to worry about being beaten on the street. _'Apparently, that's not the case,'_ Ori thought scathingly. She felt her pack being tugged from her back and she made a wild grab for it. She was too slow though, and too little to be any sort of match for these dwarrow. They emptied the contents of her satchel onto the street and stomped on them; tearing the fragile scrolls, and breaking the backs of her books. They didn't care one wit that she had spent her entire day pouring over those manuscripts, and had been charged with taking them home to copy them. What they did care about, was her little coin purse that fell out last and landed atop the ruined texts with a clink.

The one that had jumped out at her first kicked her hard in the gut to keep her down, presumably, and he and his cohort disppeared into the night. Ori gasped at the pain in her abdomen and clenched her teeth to keep from crying out: It wouldn't do for them to see she was attracting attention and come back to...Ori didn't want to think about what they might do. So she stayed on the ground until she heard footsteps, which seemed very loud in the silence of the night, running towards her. She thought at first it was Dori - it would be very much like him to come and look for her if he thought something was wrong. But it wasn't.

"Ori, Ori-Mahal, what happened?"

_Kili. _Of course he'd be heading this way, going home from the smithy.

"You found me..." Suddenly, the fear, the adrenaline crash, and the still-throbbing pain in her stomach, all caught up with her and she started to cry.

Kili immediately fell down beside her, whispering words of comfort in her ear. "There now, you'll be okay, you're alright. Let's get you home, hmm? I bet Dori has some nice tea waiting, probably some chicken and potatoes-you'd like that, huh? Come on, let's get you home." His words lost some of their effect, since he was shaking and his eyes were comically wide - he always got twitchy when someone was crying, especially Ori - but the frightened girl appreciated the gesture all the same.

Kili stuffed what was left of Ori's text into her bag and they rose slowly. Ori had to rest practically all of her weight on him due to sheer, terror-induced exhaustion. The young prince noticed and picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way to her home. Ori didn't even _pretend _to protest. Despite the circumstances, being carried by Kili was...Nice.

When they arrived at the door of the Ri houshold, Kili shifted her in his arms to knock, but didn't put her down, and Ori rested her head in the crook of his neck. Kili hadn't even knocked twice before running footsteps were heard from inside and a frazzled, pale-faced Dori flung open the door, breathing as though he'd just run a mile.

When the teamaker realized who it was, he, proper to a fault, inclined his head and said, "Prince Kili, good evening." His attentions were instantly turned to his sister however, when she made a small mewling sound, too tired and shaken to do anything else. His face melted in relief at the sight of her and he lifted his eyes to meet Kili's, "Thank you," he said. The youngest Durin just nodded his head, not finding himself able to speak at the moment, and handed the slender dwarrowdam off to her brother.

He turned to leave, but at the last minute, he whirled back around and said, "I will walk her, Master Dori. I will rise and begin work an hour early each day and be at the library to walk her home each night. I swear to you, no harm shall come to her again."

Dori raised his eyebrows and mulled over this proposition. In any other situation, the idea of the young prince whom he had caught blatantly flirting with his baby sister at the tea shop not one month - mint to help him sleep _indeed - _her home would have been an abominable idea. But he saw the sincerity in the boys eyes, and the state of Ori's bag left no question in his mind that she had been mugged, and it could have ended much, much worse. He wouldn't risk her life just because he didn't like her taste in men.

There was one thing that he needed to make sure of though... "You'll keep your hands to herself laddie, and have her home by suppertime." The fierce blush on the prince's face was hilarious, and Dori nearly burst into laughter. But he refrained, if only to keep some illusion of dignity. The young brounette stuttered out his agreement and practically fled the doorstep and sprinted to his own home.

As he watched him run down the streeet, Dori couldn't help but chuckle and let out a small sigh. _'Ah, young love.'_

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_Soooo, marginally happier than last chapter? Comment, PM, favorite, follow, make me feel loved ;-)._

_xoxo_

_FaerieQueen3_


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